Friday, November 4, 2011

Paisley Crazy - Room Makeover

*Here it is the post I keep promising you, it is a big one with lots and lots of before and after photos of my guest room makeover. So much to see and share, I debated breaking it up into several posts, but I decided what the heck, just do it, so grab your coffee or soda, sit back and enjoy. Here we go.

It is official, I have gone paisley crazy. I came across a beautiful set of paisley prints at my favorite quilt shop, HomespunHarbor and just had to have them. When I first saw the fabrics, I had no idea what I would do with them, they were a mid to large scale size print with some smaller matching prints and the colors were very bright. I was considering a guest room makeover, in my new home, I hadn’t done anything to the room except drop furniture into it and make up the bed with the linens I purchased for another home.

As much as I love color, could I be that daring and use those bright new paisley prints in conjunction with the bed linens already on the bed? Was I that daring? The only other really bright colors were in the toy room, hot pink, and orange, lime green and bright blue. The answer was “Yes I Could!” I just had to convince my husband to go along with it, I told him it was just a guest room, not one he would be sleeping in so what could it hurt (unless he ended up in the dog house)? He didn’t think it was funny but he was willing to work on the room with me (what a great guy).

I used these four coordinating prints in the room on a variety of projects. The fabrics are Gypsy Bandana by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics.These great fabrics also come in a pink, green and red pallet as well as a red, yellow and green mixed pallet.You will see some of those other color prints in future sewing projects.I really did go paisley crazy when purchasing this line, I don’t know if I bought every color combination but I gave it a good try.

First up is a reversible pillow from two of the blue complementary fabrics.This little pillow was not the first project I did; in fact, it was the final piece before company came to visit the next day.Talk about cutting it short.

Part of the guest room makeover was due to a relocation of my computer desk from the studio into the rarely used guest room.I needed a better flow in the studio and more counter space, which meant I would need an office, so we moved it to one wall of the guest room.This allows for use of all of the upstairs rooms, no empty unused spaces. I wanted to make all the accessories fit into the guest room so they would not stick out, requiring a bulletin board makeover. I gave two frames a quick re-paint, with paint I had custom color matched, and then recovered them in one of the coordinating fabrics.

Next up was a new cushion for the top of my Mom’s cedar chest; it makes a great window seat on cold winter days.The green paisley fabric was just the right fabric for the project.

An old chair was given to me by a friend who thought I could “do something” with it.It sat in storage forever before I decided it would be a good fit for the desk.This time I used spray paint instead of trying to hand paint all the nooks and crannies.I pulled up my big girl panties and got to work spray painting it a lime green, oh boy was I stepping out of my comfort zone, but what the heck, it is only paint and could be re-done if I did not like it.

Next came recovering the chair pad with new batting and the green paisley fabric to match the window cushion.

Good as new and looking fun and funky.

The chair was not the only thing in the room to get a makeover, the desk the chair sat at was a complete disaster, it is over 60 years old and it was the desk my Dad sat at to study while he went to law school.My older sister, I and my daughter all did our homework at that cute little desk and now it was back with me in my office. The first thing I did was sand the heck out of it with my mouse sander (palm sander), rubbed it down, much better already.

I painted the desk to match the bulletin boards and the lighter blue paisley fabric, very pretty and ready to go back into the room.

Two low dressers were next; they are probably as old as the desk and needed the same treatment as the desk and chair.

This time only the dresser shells got the blue paint, with the drawers all getting the icy blue paint, we used on the guest room walls.I added silver brushed nickel knobs in place of the old gold ones, very trendy.

Last but not least was the headboard, it was a wooden style headboard very dated and not good color matches for the other furniture.I did not want to paint it since it belongs to another set of furniture I have in another room, what to do?I got the idea to make a headboard cozy to put over the wooden one, it could be removed to be washed or to change the look if I got tired of the paisley fabrics.I used a matching piping along the top edge to give it some body, I was set to go.I had several extra king sized pillows hanging around so I made custom pillow cases to create a softer headboard to sit against, kind of like body pillows. See previous post for easy pillow case instructions any level sewer can use.

The paisley fabrics really brought life to a dull room making it colorful, fun and trendy, a great place to work and for guests to stay in, no dark burgundy and forest green for me. Stepping out of my comfort zone was scary but lots and lots of fun to do. After all it is only fabric and paint and can be changed at anytime, but not too soon, I’m still tired from all the work.

Thanks for letting me share my office/guest room makeover with you. See you soon with more colorful ventures from my studio and a peak into my all time favorite quilt shop. Lots more creative fun coming your way.

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About Me

I love to create all kinds of crafts, organize and decorate my home, upcycle and recycle old or unused furniture and clothing and just about anything I can find a new purpose for. I am also a master seamstress, fabric artist, pattern designer, quilter, blogger and an all around creative DIY gal. I like to share all my projects with other creative people who want to make their homes and lives more comfortable and relaxing in the same way I do.

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All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be copied or reproduced in any form. All images, patterns, products and tutorials are the sole property of Laurette Chandler, owner. Protected by Federal Copyright Law and may not be reproduced for resale or commercial use in any form without prior written consent.